Renee Pettitt-Schipp is the author of the award winning collection of poetry The Sky Runs Right Through Us and her latest offering, The Archipelago Of Us, is her first work of prose.
Currently living in regional WA Renee spent several years on Christmas and Cocos (Keeling) Islands where she worked as a teacher of children in the refugee detention centres and her new book was written in response to what she saw and experienced during her time there.
This travel narrative follows Renee’s returned trip to the Islands and takes a thought-provoking look at Australia’s complicated history with the Islands and the asylum seekers detained there.
Renee recently chatted with Australian Rural and Regional News contributor Serena Kirby about her early interest in writing, her love of poetry and what she has in the pipeline as future works.
ARR.News: Was there any early indication that you had a talent for writing? Maybe you won a writing competition where you were young and if you did, do you remember what you wrote about?
Renee Pettitt-Schipp: I remember when I was in Year Two being asked to write a story about a carrot. My story was about a rabbit who grew an enormous carrot that changed into a rocket that the rabbit could fly to the moon. The story was several pages long and it just poured out of me and all the other kids were staring at me as I just wanted to keep writing after the teacher said it was time to stop. I got an honour certificate for that story and it felt good to discover that I was actually really good at something.
My next award didn’t come until I was in my thirties and that was for a poem. It was a real vindication for me as I had just started to embrace the fact that I wanted to be a writer.
ARR.News: And why do you think you were drawn to poetry as your favoured form of writing?
Renee Pettitt-Schipp: Writing was probably a way of coping for me. I grew up with a bit of a difficult childhood, so it was a way of finding peace for myself. I originally preferred writing stories but then I had a daughter when I was 23 and I couldn’t write for long periods anymore. But I found that as she got slightly older there would be these tiny moments where I could write. They were poem-size moments. They weren’t novel-size or story-size moments. I knew I wanted to write a book, but it just wasn’t possible for me back then. So poetry was a way to still write within the snippets of time I could grab.
ARR.News: Is there a particular poet that influenced or inspired you?
Renee Pettitt-Schipp: Definitely. The American poet, Mary Oliver, had a big influence on me as her work was just so authentic and so deeply connected to nature. Also Caroline Caddy who writes beautifully about WA’s Great Southern Region which is where I live and she’s been a real hero for me. But probably, the biggest influence came from Judith Wright and that’s because I consider her as such a courageous and authentic human.
ARR.News: And how did the title of your book The Archipelago of Us come about and what does it mean to you?
Renee Pettitt-Schipp: It came from looking at Caribbean poets and writers and the way they talked about their island homes because they didn’t think of their home as just being their terrestrial land mass.
They conceive their home as being both land and water, so they don’t conceive of their home as being small. I found this very inspiring as we too often think of Australia as just the one single, large land mass and disregard the water around and between the other parts that make up Australia.
ARR.News: So how does it feel to finally have the book on the shelves? Are you nervous about how people will respond to it?
No, I’m no longer nervous. I feel hugely at peace about it and I’m glad there’s been a lot of lead in time since having it accepted for publication and to it actually coming out because I think I underestimated the difference between releasing a book of poetry compared to a book of nonfiction.
I’ve also had time to forgive myself for the hurt I may cause to people who aren’t portrayed in the book the way that they would like to be portrayed but it was necessary to tell the truth as I saw it. I find the idea of hurting people’s feelings as really difficult for me and I really had to make my peace with that. I had to hold on to the idea that I told the truth and that was more important in this instance.
ARR.News: Do you think you’ll write another book? Do you have anything already underway?
Renee Pettitt-Schipp: Yes definitely, I already have a few projects underway. One is a book of poetry that’s almost finished and hopefully it’ll be published in the next 12 months. But after that, I have two books that I want to write and one is about growing up with a father who had a severe mental illness. I’d love to write about his life, but also our lives with him and that kinda complex dynamic in families; a loving and tender story about that complexity.
And, the other book… well I’ll have to keep that one under my hat, but I’m super excited about it and it’s very much about responding to living in WA’s Great Southern and the amazing conversations that are taking place here.
ARR.News: And can I ask what books you currently have on your bedside table? What are you reading?
Renee Pettitt-Schipp: I was really moved by what played out in the media about Stan Grant – about him being forced to quit his job because of the threats made against him and his family. I was moved by the speech he gave and about responding with love so I’ve been reading his book, ‘Talking to my country’.
I’ve also just finished reading a book called Wild Abandon by Emily Bitto. I have to say it was one of the bleakest books I’ve ever read but it was oh so beautifully written. I wouldn’t normally read this kind of book but, due to the way it was written, I couldn’t help but finish it. Hats off to Emily Bitto for producing an extraordinary piece of work but I’ll certainly never read it again.
Read Serena Kirby’s review of Renee Pettit-Schipp’s The Archipelago of Us
